Homemade Hedgerow Elderflower
- Annabel's Kitchen
- Aug 10, 2017
- 2 min read
Making elderflower cordial is something I have made every June with my family, we'd all go along the hedgerows in the village and through the garden to collect as much elderflower as we could find. It is a tradition in my family to make it every year so we have a lot, so we make it by the bucket load and the freeze it so we have a constant supply throughout the year. It is a refreshing drink and perfect to be paired with some slices of lemon and mint leaves.
1. The process starts with collecting all the elderflower heads from the bushes and washing off any bugs that may be lurking in the flowers. It's best if you manage to pick the heads where all the flowers are open to get the most out of what you've collected.
Ingredients: (this will make 40 pints)
- 10 sliced lemons
- 12 ounces of citric acid
- 9lb granulated sugar
- 80 elderflower heads (I usually fill a large water bucket full of them and thats usually enough)
- 12 pints of boiling water
2. I usually make the cordial in a couple of a large horse water buckets because I have found that they are big enough for how much cordial I end up making. So, once the elderflower is washed I put it all back into the buckets and then add all the other ingredients on top, pouring the boiling water over last.
3. Get a large wooden spoon and stir all the ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved.
4. Cover the cordial with cling film and stir twice a day for 5 days.
5. Once the cordial is ready, strain the liquid from the lemons and the flowers and place in a large saucepan.
6. Bring the cordial to the boil for 2 minutes and then let it cool before decanting it into bottles to keep. This is where I would place the cordial we don't want immediately into freezer bags and put it in the freezer until needed.
This recipe can of course be scaled down to suit you and how much you would like to make. In my opinion its a perfect drink for any occasion, especially a refreshing drink for a glorious summers day or to be paired with a delicious gin and tonic.
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